With an annually increasing gross domestic product (GDP) averaging over $15.1 trillion dollars in 2011, companies are constantly grasping for insight into what products and services will obtain consumer interest in order to develop those products/services and develop marketing strategies that target audiences with appropriate advertisements. In a market flooded with products and services, it is often difficult for companies to determine which are actually being utilized and which are disregarded shortly after being used or purchased. Various strategies have been developed to solicit feedback, and usually entail a user providing quantifiable responses to a survey or other form of feedback mechanism.
Surveys and other feedback mechanisms have evolved over the years from in-person surveys, paper and mail surveys, recorded voice surveys, and, currently, to electronic surveys. Most have been developed by companies that could historically gather feedback in person or by hard copies of surveys distributed at the product sale site or by mail. However, with the emergence of new technology, consumers spend an increasing amount of time on cellular phones and other computing devices such that any solicited feedback needed to be easily accessible, e.g., made available through those electronic devices via web forms, and less time consuming. However, in electronic surveys, the responses are often measured on a scale (e.g., 1-10 or low-high) to which consumers hastily respond and rarely provide additional comments regarding a product.
Despite technological advances, it still remains that the most accurate feedback comes from direct user input, such as through a personal interview or product testing on test subjects, both of which often require compensation and time. Though the information gathered in consumer feedback is important, soliciting that feedback is challenging in a world where consumers are becoming increasingly more time-constrained. Accordingly, companies are now investing in various ways to measure indirect consumer feedback such as through interactions with electronic devices, like televisions, mobile devices and computers. This allows marketers, advertisers, and manufacturers to determine what both engages and interests consumers. However, monitoring consumer interactions and inputs to various devices can be considered an invasion of privacy without receiving the express consent of consumers to provide that information. Yet consumers are not apt to allow companies to monitor their personal information, e.g., texts, emails and account information. Thus, what is needed is a way to determine a quantifiable level of interest in a product without soliciting direct feedback from the consumer or invading the privacy of that consumer.
The need exists for a system that overcomes the above problems, as well as one that provides additional benefits. Overall, the examples herein of some prior or related systems and their associated limitations are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of existing or prior systems will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description.